A senior Pentagon official has said that the US and Jordan are discussing the possibility of sending American Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries to the Kingdom, amid the Syrian conflict and the training and arming of insurgents from a base in Jordan.

The official emphasised that an agreement over the deployment has not been reached. However, he said the missile batteries could be flown to Jordan within days and used initially as part of a multinational military exercise in June.

On 23 May, President Obama set out what he claimed what was a new US approach to threats abroad: "We must define our effort not as a boundless 'global war on terror' – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America."

So what is this not-quite-War-on-Terror? Your 4-point animated guide....

1. A War By Any Other Name is Just as Deadly2. We Are Killing Them To Bring Your Boys Home and To Prevent Attacks on You3. The Fear Will Never Stop4. Where Did Our Values Go?

In his speech on State TV on Monday, moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rohani said that he planned to use experts in his "government of hope and prudence" if elected --- a promise made by other candidates as well, notably Saeed Jalili and Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf/

Rouhani's comments indicate that he is attempting to pitch himself as a centrist candidate with a broad appeal. Perhaps with a nod at earlier comments on Monday by political commentator Sadeq Zibakalam, who said that reformist voters must back Rouhani or face a Jalili presidency, Rouhani said that he is able to work with all parties, and that he only opposed extremism.

With regard to Iran's nuclear program, Rouhani said Iran needed to clarify its position but stressed that Tehran was not seeking a nuclear weapon, and rather was developing nuclear technology for national development.

Referring to the ongoing battle between himself and his rival Saeed Jalili, Rouhani defended his term as nuclear negotiator:

Moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani sharply criticized his rival Saeed Jalili's campaign manager, nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri on Monday, over the ongoing row over claims by the Jalili camp that Rouhani made concessions during his tenure as nuclear negotiator.

Conservative news outlet Asr Iran published Rouhani's response to Bagheri's claims, and Rouhani's campaign team also noted them on his Twitter account.

Rouhani slammed Bagheri for using the "unfounded allegations" against him for capital in Jalili's election campaign, but suggested that Bagheri read his book, "National Security And Nuclear Diplomacy".

The moderate candidate also accused Bagheri of making Iran an international laughing stock when he submitted a two-page document to theP5+1 in 2008 that was "full of errors".

#Letter handed to P5+1 by #Bagheri contained not only stylistic but also content errors. One page widely published to #ridicule Iran.

Hamdullah replaces Salam Fayyad, who resigned in April after weeks of tension with others in the Authority. An English professor and dean of al-Najah University in the West Bank, Hamdullah has no prior political or government experience.

This weekend's events should be seen not just as an immediate rising which will succeed or fail, but as the start of a series of events that will change the Turkish political landscape.

In other words, the contest --- which will take in not only social issues like Gezi Park and the Bosphorus Bridge, but the Government's economic approach and perceived favoritism and the broad political issues like the Constitution and Erdogan's power --- is one for the longer-term.

"This year, 2013, will not be the same as 2009," moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani told crowds in Tehran on Saturday, as his supporters chanted political slogans and called for the release of Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

The 2013 Presidential campaign --- fairly anodyne so far --- changed at Saturday at a campaign rally at Tehran's Jamaran Mosque, during which police arrested several people at the rally, Saedollah Badashti, the head of Rouhani's youth campaign. Radio Farda, quoting the Reformist website Kaleme, also named Mohammad Parsi, Shirin Mirkarami and Mohsen Rahmani among those arrested.

A video published by the Rouhani campaign showed supporters calling for Iran's detained political prisoners to be released, including Mousavi. Rouhani demanded that the country's "securitized atmosphere" be stopped.

"Our people deserve more peace, more freedom, more prosperity, more honor and more security. This is only possible with your presence. Don't let them discourage you. If people don't show up to vote on election day, they have effectively left the field open to your opponents," Rouhani said.

As the crowd called for a coalition between Presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref and Rouhani, Rouhani said that the first step was to "ensure that we have many people lining up to vote.

"I will say this in a vague way --- this year, that is 2013, will not be the same as 2009," Rouhani said.

During his speech at the Jamaran Mosque, Rouhani also told the crowd that: "With your support, we will open all the locks which have been fastened upon people's lives during the past eight years. You - dear students and hero youth - are the ones who have come to restore the national economy and improve the people's living standards. We will bring back our country to the dignity of the past."